Recruiting Drive
by theghettocyborg
Summary: In an alternate universe a slightly different Magneto and Mystique find a slightly different Toad.


Magna picked her way disdainfully past puddles and garbage and tried not to laugh at the ridiculous accent Mystery was using to go with his pensioner on vacation disguise. It coordinated vaguely with Magna's own childhood accent that she had drug out of mothballs, so to speak, for this little play, but it wasn't _actually_ Polish, or German, or Austrian.

If she hadn't known him for so long, she might suspect that he wasn't taking this mission seriously. Perhaps he was trying to amuse her, or perhaps he merely had that much contempt for the Londoner thugs they were trying to fool.

She hoped they were trolling the right block, she didn't want to be at this all night. Mystery _had_ received that telephone call from Destiny right before they left the hotel, but that wasn't a guarantee. The pre-cog might have just been saying hello for all Magna knew. _Ah, there we go._ Some skinny, dirty teenagers were beginning to clumsily close in on them. One of the smallest was a girl hiding in a large hooded sweatshirt. Their quarry? She could be.

One of the teenagers, probably the ringleader, sidled up to Mystery, a toothpick of a knife gripped in his hand. "Give us your wallet, Grandad. This can go easy."

It was a struggle for Magna to pretend to be frightened with the cheap steel of that knife whistling it's familiar little tune in her mind. Of course, Mystery made it look easy as he clutched a wallet to his chest and quavered fearfully in response with his fake old-man voice and even more fabricated accent. Please take pity: they would be stranded without that money. And so on.

"Sorry Grandad, things are tough all around." The boy signaled to the hooded girl, still a few meters away, and she leapt at them, reaching for the wallet. The girl was quite agile, and apparently quite strong, at least in her legs. On any other night she would have succeeded, but there was no wallet, really, there was only Mystery. He grabbed the girl's arm and twisted it around her back, drawing her to him in preparation for a leg-lock.

The other teenagers scattered and the girl released a long green tongue from her mouth and whipped it at Mystery's face. The blow barely connected; she seemed to be striking wildly for shock value. _Good, this is the one we want._

Mystery laughed and, seeing that the girl's partners in crime had fled, dropped his disguise to let his natural blue form show. The girl stopped struggling and her hood fell back revealing blemished green skin and wide, inhuman eyes that stared at Mystery in shock. He set her on her feet, but kept a hold on her arms. She seemed calm enough, and Magna took that moment to study the girl as she looked at Mystery in rapt fascination.

She was young, barely developed. Her hips were beginning to widen, but her breasts were invisible under her sweatshirt. Her hair was dull dark green, with brighter green roots. She must have tried to cover her natural color with cheap dye. Her skin was a more yellow-ish green, and peppered with warts or moles. She was short and stocky. Underfed, but with wiry muscles visible where Mystery's hold had pushed up the sleeves of her sweatshirt. Her eyes had almost no whites, yellow irises, and large, strangely shaped pupils. Magna hoped they had some interesting abilities to go along with their strange appearance. And then there was that unexpected tongue. Such potential.

Mystery caught Magna's eyes with an I Told You So sort of look. She looked back at him archly, conceding nothing. The exchange seemed to break some sort of tension in the girl, who was still staring at Mystery. "You have yellow eyes too," she blurted.

_Well_, thought Magna, _it's always the little things that seem so important_.

* * *

Author's Note: I wrote this a couple years ago while I was roleplaying female alternate universe Toad on LiveJournal. (I'm really letting my dork flag fly there, huh?) I still think it's a good little stand-alone story, and I hope you enjoyed it.


End file.
